page_title: Second Ward, Houston
section_title: Culture, parks and recreation
hierarchical_section_title: Second Ward, Houston / Culture, parks and recreation
caption_attribution_description: English: Guadalupe Plaza Park
context_page_description: Second Ward is a historical political district ward in the East End community in Houston, Texas. It was one of the four original wards of the city in the nineteenth century. The community known as the Second Ward today is roughly bounded by Buffalo Bayou to the north, Lockwood Avenue to the east, and railroad tracks to the south and west, although the City of Houston's "Super Neighborhood" program includes a section east of Lockwood.
  The Second Ward, which initially had a significant German American population, today has mainly Mexican American residents. Many Mexican-Americans moved into the area following World War II and the subsequent white flight from the area. The northern end of the community is largely industrial, leading to massive warehouse complexes along the Bayou. There are also many industrial buildings, some of which have found new life as lofts, on the western edge of the neighborhood nearest to Downtown and Minute Maid Park.
  Many buildings in the community were constructed in the 1920s and bear the art deco style.
context_section_description: Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, a prominent Mexican-American church; Talento Bilingüe de Houston, a bilingual theatre; and Guadalupe Plaza, a public park, are located in the Second Ward.
  Our Lady of Guadalupe is the first Mexican ethnic Catholic church to be established in the City of Houston. Historically Mexican-Americans traveled to the church from many Houston neighborhoods on Sundays. The Second Ward was also the place where Houston's first Catholic church, St. Vincent's Church, was established. This church converted into a parish catering to German Americans in 1871 when the larger Annunciation Church opened.
  Guadalupe Plaza is 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Downtown Houston. As of 2008 the park was a haven for drunk and homeless individuals. A man named George Helber frequently filed complaints to ask the city of Houston to improve the park. In 2009 the president of the Second Ward Super Neighborhood, Jessica Hulsey, complained about the park's condition. During that year, Isa Dadoush, a general services manager of the City of Houston announced that there were plans for a $171,000 upgrade of the park to be completed in the northern hemisphere summer of that year, and that the city is advertising for a construction contractor to do the job. Reconstruction of the park began in 2014, with completion targeted for summer 2015.
  The Navigation Esplanade, built in 2013, is 3-block pedestrian park located between North St. Charles Street and Delano Street.
  Houston Saengerbund, established in 1883, is a German-American singing group; there were groups like it that proliferated in communities of Germans overseas in the 1800s. It bought the William Hamblen House in 1913. As of 2010 the group still conducts regular meetings. It was the final German American cultural organization to be established in the Second Ward. In the late 1800s Volksfest Park hosted the Volkfest festival, a German-American event. Its attendance prompted the Bayou Street Railway Company to, in 1889, add a mule car line to the park.
caption: Guadalupe Plaza Park
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